Category Archives: chicken

Roasted Lemon Chicken Thighs & Veg

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by in chicken, Dinner, Uncategorized, Vegetables

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Those of you who see most of my posts know that (a) I am mostly a weekend cook; (b) I love recipes that are quick and also one pan and (c) chicken is on the menu OFTEN!

Yesterday was one of those end of winter days; grey, constant drizzling rain, chilly and just generally no fun.  We felt like something simple but warming, and I definitely felt like something simple after spending most of the afternoon snoozing on the couch.

This recipe certainly fits the bill.   I found it on The Woks of Life.  Wow do I love that site.  I have bookmarked so many recipes to try.    Having gone to the supermarket prior to deciding what to cook I also had some vegetables other than just potato, so we also have parsnip and carrot in this dish.     Mostly I purchase skinless & boneless chicken thighs,  however for this recipe skin on, bone-in is much much better.  (Though I resisted the urge and left the skin on the side of the plate!).

Be assured ‘simple’ also means ‘tasty’.   It only takes a few minutes to put together but ends up being a pan of deliciousness and easily translated up or down in terms of catering numbers.  In fact you don’t really need to measure or weigh anything.

Recipe below is enough to feed 2.  I allowed 2 chicken thighs per person (with one leftover so I can have a chicken sandwich the next day).  The recipe this is inspired by allows 1 chicken thigh per person – which might be fine if you have other courses or just want a small amount.  (I’m afraid mostly neither of those things happen in our household).    If cooking for a large number of people you may need to use 2 pans.

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Lemon Chicken Thighs & Veg

ROASTED LEMON CHICKEN THIGHS & VEG

Serving Number:  2

Ingredients
  • 5 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • approximately 4 washed potatoes (I left the skin on), cut into 1″ chunks,  one parsnip and one carrot, peeled and cut into smallish chunks.
  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • 10 cloves garlic, peeled (or however many you want – though probably not a lot more)
  • ¼ cup chopped coriander
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C and season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a roasting pan set over two burners at medium high heat.
  2. Sear the chicken skin-side down in the roasting pan. After the chicken thighs have been searing for about 5-7 minutes, flip them over. Add the vegetables and stir them in the oil. Add the lemon slices and garlic cloves, tossing everything together so the vegetables and garlic are well-coated in olive oil.
  3. Transfer the chicken to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.   At around 2/3 of the way through you may want to check the dish and pour off some of the juices if it looks like the vegetables are ‘swimming’.   (Don’t know what your experience is, but our chicken seems to have a lot of excess water which comes out in cooking.  Note to self: buy free-range organic chicken.)
  4. Remove from the oven and stir in the herbs. Serve.

We served this with a very simple leafy green salad with some chopped tomato and red capsicum –  sprinkled with raspberry vinegar and balsamic syrup.

Plus – I can’t help it, I love a bit of aioli with potato.   But we didn’t have any and it was 5 minutes until dinner was ready.  So I made the following:

1/4 cup mayonnaise (Mr MWCED and I prefer Best Foods)
1/4 cup Sour Cream
a dollop of pesto
a dollop of dijonaisse
salt & pepper to taste

Mix it all together.  (You could also ‘steal’ a clove or 2 of garlic from your roasting dish – they will be nicely mushy by now – and add – I definitely suggest you consider it).   Don’t be tempted to scoff it all  before you take the dinner out of the oven.

Oregano Chicken and Rice

12 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by in chicken, Dinner, Rice, Uncategorized

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Thanks to http://www.recipetineats.com/one-pot-greek-chicken-lemon-rice/ for the inspiration for this dish. It looked so damn good that I just wanted dinner immediately.   Luckily this is all made in one pot, so even though it wasn’t immediate, it was definitely easy to prepare, cook and serve. Cooking the rice with the chicken on top adds extra flavour to the rice because the chicken juices get soaked up by the rice.  Even Mr MWCED said how tasty it was and went back for seconds. That is no mean feat. The Plus was that there were plenty of leftovers, which could have been another meal at home, but I chose to take some to work for lunch. (Our super spoilt dog had the remainder!).

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Oregano Chicken & Lemon Rice – One Pot

This is made using classic Greek ingredients.  It will feed a hungry three, or maybe 6 if you stretch it out with other courses and some crusty bread.   As it was the weekend and I wanted easy, we ate this dish on its own with no other accompaniments  –  well, chocolate later……)

 Ingredients

Chicken and Marinade

  • 6 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in (about 1 kg) Skin on and bone in will give the best flavour, but if you don’t have that then use whatever you have available. But without bone the chicken will take less time to cook – so you may like to add it a bit later rather than from the beginning.
  • 2 lemons, use the zest + 4 tbsp lemon juice (this will probably be about the amount of juice you get from the 2 lemons – don’t angst if it turns out to be not quite 4 tbsp, just use what you get
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano – again, if you don’t have enough oregano then substitute. I had a nearly empty container of oregano so had to make it up with dried mixed herbs.
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced – my garlic amount is always increased, we eat a lot of it, so use more if you like – you won’t be disappointed.
  • 1/2 tsp salt

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Rice

  • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, separated
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 cup / 180g long grain rice – I used a good quality basmati – but any long grain would be fine. Don’t use a risotto rice though as it will probably go a bit sticky.
  • 1 1/2 cups / 375 ml chicken broth / stock
  • 3/4 cup / 185ml water
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano (see my note above about subbing if you don’t have enough)
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • Black pepper

Garnish

  • Finely chopped parsley or oregano (optional)
  • Fresh lemon zest (highly recommended)

Instructions

  1. Combine the Chicken and Marinade ingredients and set aside for at least 20 minutes but preferably overnight.   Either do this in a plastic bag or in a bowl with a cover/lid.

To Cook

  1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
  2. Remove chicken from marinade, and reserve the Marinade.
  3. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a deep, heavy based pan over medium high heat. If, like me, you try to reduce the number of dishes you use in the kitchen, use the pan that you are going to bake the chicken in (so it needs to be oven proof).
  4. Place the chicken in the pan, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, then turn and cook the other side until golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside.
  5. Pour off fat and wipe the pan, then return to the stove.
  6. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until translucent. Then add the remaining Rice ingredients and reserved Marinade.
  7. Let the liquid come to a simmer and let it simmer for 30 seconds. Place the chicken on top then place a lid on the pan. If you don’t have a lid use foil. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.IMG_1294.JPG
  8. Then remove the lid and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender (so around 45 minutes in total).
  9. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, garnished with parsley or oregano and fresh lemon zest, if desired.

Then enjoy the wonderful flavours and congratulate yourself on yet another tasty dish.

Chicken Thighs – yet another….

21 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by in chicken, Dinner, Uncategorized, Vegetables

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Ok so I must ‘fess up.  We eat a lot of chicken thighs in the MWCED household.  Preferably boneless and skinless, though sometimes a bit of bone and skin is ok.   The problem with skinless is that you just don’t get that lovely colouring – but better that than far too many calories I figure.   You can see what I mean with the picture from last night’s dinner.  The meal was very  yummy,  but doesn’t win any prizes for looks.   Still,  if you want a tasty, quick and flavoursome dinner, this is one to keep going back to.   Surprisingly there is no garlic in this recipe, yowser, what was I thinking!

As for the veges,  I felt like potatoes.  And we had some beans – a bit different from courgettes 100 ways – due to them being in season and in our garden.    We also have a lovely crop of tomatoes and just happened to have these wee ones – which went great with the beans.

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Here we go:

INGREDIENTS – for 2 to 4 (depends how hungry you are)

  • 3 slices bacon, chopped into smallish pieces
  • ½ cup flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs from the garden (I used oregano, thyme and parsley) – or use dried (but only about 1 teaspoon if dried)
  • 4 chicken thighs – one each was enough for us, but if you are hungry and there are four people then perhaps use 2 thighs each
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • one onion, finely sliced (shallots would work nicely here if you have them, sigh, I didn’t)
  • ½ cup dry white wine – well I use whatever happens to be open – usually in our household it is Chardonnay
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • chopped parsley

 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Fry the bacon for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the hot bacon grease in the pan (turn down the heat while prepping the chicken).   You might need to help the bacon along with a little of the olive oil.
  2. Mix the flour with salt and pepper and the herbs. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture and transfer to the hot pan. (Add olive oil if needed). Pan-fry the chicken for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown (but not cooked through). Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on plate.
  3. Add the onions to the pan with the rest of the olive oil. Saute for 5-10 minutes, until softened and fragrant and golden brown. Add the wine slowly, stirring to get all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and let everything cook until it reduces slightly, about 5-10 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken and bacon back to the pan and then transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 40 minutes, basting the chicken every 10 minutes or so with the pan sauce.. Skim the oil off the top of the sauce if you want.   You could also serve with bread to soak up all those juices.

 

 

vegetables

Use enough potatoes for the number of people. Mine happened to be quite large so I cut into smaller pieces. Boil until just tender.   Then put onto an oven tray with some olive oil, salt and a little pepper.   Cook in oven with chicken until done. Add a bit of butter to top of potatoes and cook under the grill until browned and crisped.

Meanwhile put green beans into boiling water for a few minutes. Take off heat and strain. Add beans back to hot pot with baby tomatoes. Add a teaspoon of pesto – add pot lid and let heat from pot/beans warm through tomatoes.

Enjoy!